An Inside Look at Spirit Week 2015

It’s that time again as we begin the most highly anticipated week of the school year… Spirit Week! Sure the theme days (Monday through Thursday) are fun and promote school spirit, but really “Color Day” on Friday and the pep rally is what everyone is waiting for. All of the grades have been hard at work making their alcoves come to life, designing their t-shirts, and writing their class skits. What do all of these activities have in common? They are all based on the theme each grade has chosen to represent their class color on Friday. For those who don’t know or are new to the school, the freshmen wear red, sophomores dress in blue, juniors are white, and seniors rep black. Theme choice is extremely important to students, and if conveyed properly can give a grade an edge over the others, especially when it comes to alcove design. I talked to students from each grade who let me in on their reaction to their grade’s Spirit Week theme for this year, as well as their thoughts on Spirit Week in general. Here’s what they had to say…

Freshmen

This year, the freshmen have decided to go with the ever-so-popular “Netflix” as their theme. Mia Brady is especially excited about her class’s choice, saying, “I love our theme. I especially enjoy how there are so many shows and movies that we can make work! We are making the shows on Netflix represent Upper Dublin so that is so cool.” Freshmen class president Nathan Russek commented, “our theme is very original because of the fact that Netflix is very original in itself. I believe there is a lot of opportunity and if we take it, things will go well for the 9th grade.”

In terms of alcove decorating, Mia says, “I saw the design and it is very vibrant and creative. The participation so far has not been amazing, but I think as Spirit Week approaches there will be much more.” Nathan describes the design of the alcove mentioning, “anything you love or know about Netflix will be incorporated as much as possible from the layout to the device you watch it on.” It will be interesting to see how the freshmen translate their theme into their alcove, but from what I hear, it sounds like the Class of 2019 is ready to make their mark on the school and come out strong for Spirit Week! Nathan is ready for the week adding, “I am looking forward to a shift in power as the freshmen make a name for themselves among all other grades, including the seniors.” Good luck to the freshmen as they begin to get a taste of what Spirit Week is like at Upper Dublin! Check out their t-shirt design below:

Sophomores

The sophomores are throwing it back to our childhood days with the familiar movie, “Monsters, Inc.” as their theme. Louis Hoffman, sophomore class president revealed, “I’m very excited to see what we can do with the theme! It’s a great movie that everyone knows and loves, so it should be a fun process.” His thoughts on his grade’s chances of winning Spirit Week this year? He told me, “The class of 2018 always has a good chance of winning Spirit Week. The kids do a great job of showing their spirit for our class. It’s great to see such eager participation from our grade, as they spend hours each day after school working hard on our alcove design. We all work together very well as a team, and I know that our hard work will pay off when Spirit Week comes around.”

Roman Smith is very happy with his grade’s alcove design stating, “with every bias aside, giving the most fair and equal answer, I can confidently say that the sophomore Spirit Week alcove will be the best human creation to ever touch the face of this Earth, rivaling the creation of the Pyramids.” I asked Louis what we can expect from their class alcove, and he responded, “without giving away our plans too much, I will say that you will feel as if you are being transported directly into the movie, and we have found ways to incorporate many small yet important details into our alcove.” Looks like this alcove will be a sight to see! If the sophomore class’s participation can match the power of their alcove, they might just give the other grades a run for their money this week.

Juniors

The junior class’s theme is “House of Cards,” based off the hit Netflix show with an emphasis on the White House and Washington D.C. Class President Aaron Glatter admits, “I think that white is by far the toughest color for Spirit Week. Nevertheless, I like our theme and I think we will be very successful with it.” Kyle Lee comments, “I think the theme is great. Our theme involves a play on words that mixes both a bit of the White House and incorporates the TV show, House of Cards. It can also be interpreted as an abbreviation of the ‘House of Cardinals’.”

Even though I’m a junior, I’m not being biased when I say our class is a major threat to this year’s seniors, especially since we beat them last year and came close to winning Spirit Week altogether. I asked students what they think our chances of winning this year are, and LeeAnn Raynor responded, “I’m not gonna jinx it but… I think we all know the answer to that.” Kyle thinks, “100%. We’re the most spirited, active, and involved. This year will be cake.” Sophia Beyda asks, “Is that even a question? I’ve see those senior ghosts and goblins trembling at the thought of Spirit Week.”

Aaron let me in on information about the class’s alcove saying, “without giving away too much, it will include a White House, a Washington Monument, and a whole lot of class spirit! We’re focusing not only on the White House but on Washington D.C. as a whole.”

Kyle sums everything up stating, “people should already mark it down in their books. Juniors are winning Spirit Week.” Watch out seniors! The juniors are holding last year’s upset victory against you and are an extremely confident force to be reckoned with!

Seniors

With Halloween right around the corner, the seniors have appropriately chosen “Haunted House” to be their Spirit Week theme. In terms of their choice, Michael Reed-Price shared, “I think it’s great. We had a couple of solid options and I think the class officers have done a good job sticking with the one that the majority wanted.” Kevin Hoxha answered, “I’m fairly indifferent to it. All that really matters to me is the effort and time put into decorating our alcove, etc. That’s what really makes for a ‘good’ spirit week and chance at winning.”

Thomas Juelke, senior Class President talked about his class’s alcove, saying, “we plan on having as many student built and designed elements in the alcove this year. This year it was really important to me that we would utilize the talent we have in our grade. We have so many fabulous artist and designers it would have be a shame not to use them. We plan on mixing in a lot of 2D art and 3D art to create a spooky haunted mansion feel. Creepy doorways, paintings with watching eyes, and other creepy elements hope to give the illusion we are striving for.”

From what Thomas said, it sounds like the senior class alcove will be one of the best Upper Dublin High School has seen in a while! When asked about their chances of winning, he adds, “I look forward to Spirit Week every year. It is so nice to get to work with everyone to create something like this. It is very special. This being the last year, to me it is even more special. And also even more important that we win; there is no next year, unfortunately this is the last chance we get. I hope to make it a memorable one.” Michael adds, “we better win. We’ve waited four years for this so I’m hoping the grade will be excited and really put their school spirit on display.” It has been said (and proven) time after time that the seniors win Spirit Week every year, and it appears as if this year the Class of 2016 is heading in that same direction.

This year’s Spirit Week is most definitely going to be a competitive one as the seniors battle the rest of the grades for the win. After what happened last year, all eyes will be on the upperclassmen as the fight for first place begins, but the solid effort being put forth by the sophomore and freshmen classes can’t be disregarded either. Spirit Week is a time to promote school unity and have fun, so let’s make it a great one this year!